Movies like Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, Jane Eyre, and other similar titles have brought old literature alive for this generation of people who may have never read the books by the same name. I love these movies and many more like them because they have wonderful stories which depict people from another epoch of time where manners and culture were much different from ours. Even their language was much different from ours today.
But there is more than one thing we can learn from enjoying these gems of yesteryear.
Today I was reading a devotional that used a word that I often hear in those favorite movies of mine: constancy.
You don't hear that word much these days and I think it is a shame that we don't use it because maybe if we did there would be more of it. Constancy I mean.
You see in those grand old stories that word was used to determine if someone was worthy of friendship, business, courtship or marriage. It was a very important component to understanding if a person could be depended upon to ride out the storms of life's ups and downs.
Imagine if our world used that as a measuring stick today. Would our relationships in family, friends, work and marriage be better? Not just because we used the word but if we truly lived it out.
Sarah Young uses it in today's selection in her book Jesus Calling: "The human mind cannot comprehend God's constancy." (name mine)
Our world, our culture, has forgotten what benefits this quality calls into existence because we have become a society of inconstancy. Nothing lasts anymore. We throw away everything even if it is not disposable. I know this because my generation throws away things that my parents' generation would have saved or fixed for decades. I'm not saying that everything should be saved or fixed but the mindset of throwing things away is damaging to our hearts. Because of this mindset we throw away relationships just like we do old bread wrappers.
Hebrews 18:8b says:
"For God has said, 'I will never fail you. I will never forsake you'."
Going on to verses 8 and 9a:
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. so do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your spiritual strength comes from God's special favor"
Jeremiah 31:3 says:
"I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. with unfailing love I have drawn you to myself."
Exodus 15:13:
"With unfailing love you will lead this people whom you have ransomed. You will guide them in your strength to the place where your holiness dwells."
Deuteronomy 33:26,27
"There is no one like the God of Israel. He rides across the heavens to help you, across the skies in majestic splendor. The eternal God is your refuge and his everlasting arms are under you."
Can you think of anyone in your life today who can do that? Certainly we love our children and our spouses with fierce love but NO ONE can compare to Jesus when it comes to true constancy. There are no other arms that are everlasting. Eventually everyone we love will die or be incapable of holding us up. But not God.
Today I'm going to go through my day thinking about constancy and being thankful for all the old fashioned words that don't need to be considered old fashioned if we choose to live them.
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